We had so much fun at Denver Mini Maker Faire! We saw tons of great new things, and met interesting people that are working on creative and wonder-inducing new inventions.

One of our favorites is Matrix Flare (and they’ve signed up to exhibit at the upcoming STEAM Fest – so be sure to join us and check them out!)

We interviewed Tasha Bingman and learned more about Matrix Flare. We hope you’ll support her Kickstarter campaign. We think you’ll be inspired by her story.

An idea is born

Matrix Flare cubes show off their creative animations and artwork created in the Pixel Maker App.

Tasha initially created this project for her 7 year old so he could learn about circuits, programming, graphical user interfaces (GUI), and still be able to create art quickly. He enjoys it so much she thought it would be a fantastic Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) project. After they’d created a couple of them, they realized that they were playing with the animations so much they figured others would enjoy them as well.

The Matrix Flare invention comes with everything you need to get started!

Tasha and her son did their research and found manufacturing resources, a 3d printer that could produce the “ninjaflex” cases in bright colors, and they set out to create the fantastic little cubes that can be hours of educational fun used one at a time, or in groups to create animated and visual art.

Matrix Flare cubes dressed up in their Ninjaflex cases.

The Pixel Maker App was later created so that users/creators could build their animations one frame at a time through a simple interface involving mouse or touchscreen programming. Then the animation can be downloaded to the cube and its creators can watch in wonder as the lights dance and move on their LED cube.

Learn more about this cool example of STEAM (science, tech, entrepreneurship, art and making!) all in one bundle! You can visit their Kickstarter campaign to learn more and to support their adventure!